BIDDEFORD, Maine -- Junior Kelley Paradis (Newport, Maine) went for a team-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor to help lead the top-seeded University of New England Nor'easters to a 64-54 victory over No. 8 Smith College in the quarterfinal round of the 2011 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England Women's Basketball Championship played Wednesday evening at the Campus Center.

Big Blue (22-7) moves on to host the semifinal and final rounds on Saturday and Sunday (March 5 & 6). UNE will take on the fourth seed, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in the 5 p.m. game on Saturday, while No. 2 University of Southern Maine and No. 3 Endicott College are set to tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

The Nor'easters received an additional 13 points from junior Margo Russell (Madison, Maine), and senior Carrie Bunnell (Barnet, Vt.) chipped in with 11. Sophomore Beth Suggs (Bath, Maine) pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.

Smith (17-11) first-year forward Rosa Drummond (Rye, N.H.) drained four three-pointers on her way to finishing with a team-high 22 points. She also collected seven boards for the Pioneers, who out-rebounded their opponents by a 35-30 margin. Junior Ashani Petrizzi (Deerfield, Mass.) threw in nine points and picked up seven rebounds in support.

UNE ended the match with sizable advantages in free throws made (20-7) and point in the paint (32-18).

By the 10:56 mark of the opening half, six different Smith players had found their way into the scoring column, and the visitors held a 16-11 edge. The contest remained close and saw four lead changes the rest of the period, before a Paradis layup with under a minute to go in the frame put the Nor'easters in front, 30-28, at the break.

Big Blue notched the initial six points coming out of halftime to assume a 36-28 lead, only to see Drummond send in seven of her team's next nine points as Smith leveled things at 37-37.

Each team came up empty on its next two trips down the court, before a layup from UNE sophomore Eden Cianciolo (Fryeburg, Maine) gave the hosts a lead they would not relinquish with 12:42 left.

After neither team recorded a point for a stretch of 2:53, the Nor'easters built up the difference to eight (48-40) with under eight minutes left on the clock. However, Drummond brought the Pioneers back once again, registering eight points sandwiched around a UNE basket in a span of 1:17 to make it 50-48 with 5:57 to go.

From there the Nor'easters regained control, converting five of their last eight shots from the field to slowly expand the margin up to the final score.